Tuned IN Swept Up by Swoopo WOW Gospel 2010 reviewed by Ron DeBoer Looking for a praise CD that’s bursting with energy and emotion? WOW Gospel 2010 will help you praise God and make your spirit soar. Since WOW Gospel began putting out its compilation CDs in 1998, they’ve grown in popularity, with seven platinum and four gold-certified releases. From Kirk Franklin’s earnest cry in “Help Me Believe” to Maurette Brown Clark’s hopeful “It Ain’t Over” to Whitney Houston’s prayer “I Look to You,” WOW

istocck photo istocck Gospel 2010 will have you both Something for nothing? We all know another 15 seconds and bidding resumes. bouncing in your seat and con- that’s unlikely. Auctions can go on for days. templatively dwelling on the Lord. But something for a little, now that’s Before Christmas I tried out Swoopo (Verity) what we call a deal, a fair game where the with the hope of finding some presents best shopper wins. The online auction for my kids. I bought a pack of 40 bids Downtown site Swoopo offers a deal-lover’s dream, for $24. I quickly learned to stick to Church displaying items such as a flat-panel TV, unpopular items or auctions that ended by Patty Griffin won by a bidder for only $250! Or a Sony very late at night. But each time, someone reviewed by Robert N. Hosack PlayStation 3 for $40! Prices stay low else swooped in and got the deal. Griffin’s first gospel because bidding goes up by as little as a One of several recent “penny auction” album, Downtown penny. sites, Swoopo.com began in Germany in Church, was Too good to be true? Indeed, the first 2005 and expanded across Europe to the recorded at a Pres- catch is that you need to buy your bids, United States in 2009. The company bills byterian church in at 60 cents a bid. A TV may end up cost- itself as “Entertainment Shopping.” And Nashville, released ing only $250 at auction, but might I’ll admit I felt an adrenaline rush when on a Christian label, require 1,000 bids. The total cost is then I nearly won a nifty Eiffel Tower Lego set. and produced by the legendary $600 in bids, plus the $250 auction price, Who would guess that clicking a mouse Buddy Miller. Two original com- plus shipping and handling. The attrac- could be so exciting? positions from Griffin, who was tion is that maybe, just maybe, you may But when I became $24 poorer and brought up in the Catholic “swoop” in just before the auction ends wiser, I realized Swoopo is a variation on Church, are presented with gos- and place only one bid (the TV would gambling. In the hope and thrill of finding pel standards, including “Wade then cost only $250.60). a deal, auction losers end up paying Swoopo in the Water.” The record draws But here is the second catch—with for the cost of the merchandise—and prob- on a wide variety of inspirations, every new bid the clock moves back ably a healthy return to its investors. mixing together a potpourri of As a business model, Swoopo is genres, cultures, and centuries. extremely clever. But in the end, it’s a case Along with Miller, luminaries I felt an where a deal is truly a steal. n such as Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin join the gospel adrenaline rush Otto Selles teaches French at celebration. A haunting “All Crea- Calvin College in Grand Rapids, tures of Our God and King” offers when I nearly Mich. He is a member of Neland a blessed benediction. (Credential Avenue Christian Reformed Recordings) won. Church in Grand Rapids.

22 THE BANNER | July 2010 | www.thebanner.org